Singer Loses Voice Without Explanation

Dianne recalls, “What felt like a lump now was multiple lumps, and when I would swallow it was literally like it would take time to get past whatever was in my throat.”

As a contemporary Christian singer and ministry leader, Dianne Garvis couldn’t afford to lose her voice, which is exactly what happened in the fall of 2019.

Dianne shares, “It started with struggling, feeling a little bruised, to having to whisper because it hurt to talk.”

Dianne’s husband John remembers, “Watching her trying to swallow. It looked so painful. And I was helpless to help her.”

Adding to their concerns, they feared it was cancer, since Dianne had lost her mother to the disease just months earlier.

Dianne says, “My fear started with, ‘Did I make myself this sick and cause something that bad because of the stress?’”

John says, “I was very worried. We had been praying a lot and not sure.”

Several months and several doctors later, they still had no answers and none of the prescribed medications or treatment helped. In fact, it had gotten worse, and Dianne was afraid she might lose her ministry and God’s calling on her life.

Dianne shares, “The fact that I was losing my voice - literally losing the instrument God has blessed me with for my ministry to share. Without my voice, there goes my ministry.”

John recalls, “It was very frustrating because this situation wasn't getting better.”

Still, they knew from experience God could do a miracle. Diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis at 13, Dianne was told she’d never walk again. She was 24 when she walked down the runway of the 1984 America’s Miss pageant to receive the national Miss Florida title. It would teach her an important lesson about trusting God with her healing.

Dianne remembers, “I knew then that is why God placed me there for that moment. It was to remind people that He sees them. ‘Do not be afraid. He is still in the healing business.’”

It had been 7 months when that healing would come. Dianne was watching The 700 Club right before bed when she heard Terry pray.

Terry prays, “There’s someone else, you are a singer and you've lost your voice for some reason. God is giving that gift back to you so you can praise Him. Just begin to use it and you'll see you have it again."    

Dianne shares, “I grabbed it. I received it. And then I just tried to sing. I whispered (SINGING) 'All to Jesus I surrender.' I called my husband and son. ‘Listen to this word of knowledge. I've been healed.’ I still couldn’t talk. It didn't happen that second.”

Later on that night something woke her up.

Dianne says, “It was like a rubber band that popped. I woke up feeling the lumps that I was struggling to swallow past, go down and my voice came back, and miraculously, then and there, I was healed.”

John shares, “Praise God that we're finally getting the healing we've been praying for.”

Immediately, Dianne was talking and singing like she always had. Soon, she was back to leading her ministry “Tiaras of Hope,” where she presents tiaras and sashes to children and adults with cancer in hospitals and hospice. The Garvises want everyone to know to never give up on the promises of God for healing.

John says, “There's only one answer, and it's trusting God, knowing that only through Him all things can be done.”

Dianne says, “Whisper the name of Jesus. All power, all of our answers are in His name.”